A complimentary e-newsletter from Linda Miles for the professional dental community.
For subscription (or unsubscribe) details, as well as Miles & Associates contact information, please see the end of this newsletter.
Miles & Associates
P.O. Box 6249
Virginia Beach, VA 23456
757.721.3332
757.721-2892 (Fax)
800.922.0866 Toll-free
www.DentalManagementU.com
DYNAMIC DATA
September 2002
Dear Doctors and Staff,
Our lives changed as our country changed last September 11th. One of the things I’ve personally noticed over the past year is a new sense of hope and patriotism as we go about our personal and professional lives. In your office have you noticed that your staff seem more helpful to one another and your patients just a little bit more appreciative of the care rendered? Have you noticed a slow down or drastic improvement in your productivity? Many of our active clients are reporting their best year ever with numbers that have continually climbed in spite of other businesses slowing down.
Our business has been exceptionally busy the past few months with a surge of calls from meeting planners and a cry for in-office consulting from dentists who have never attended our seminars or been referred by another client. This, however is where almost all of our business came from over the past two decades. Is it because we offer hope? “When the times get tough, the tough get going!” I believe slow times are a resting spot in the road of life. How each practice deals with a slower time determines how fast the slow times last. Right now are you sharpening your axe while getting ready to “hit the ground running” in 2003. I was asked to give the dentists on Dental Town the Top 12 components of a successful practice. Following is an excerpt of that message:
1) A positive attitude. You get what you expect! Your attitude not only determines your ALTITUDE; it also determines your energy level. Without the proper mind-set and energy, one never reaches their full potential or happiness.
2) Outstanding clinical skills. Be a continuous student of the many fine clinicians mentioned on this site.
3) A well trained, trusted staff who believes in your dentistry, your fees and your goals.
4) Leadership at all levels. The dentist can’t be the only leader, but must be able to share this role with team members. (Accountability is a major form of leadership).
5) Up-to-date equipment and technology. Go to courses on technology and visit trade shows. They are there FOR YOU, not because they like standing on a concrete floor for three days at a stretch and smiling. (“Boothies” have my sympathies as I’ve done my share of booths over the years.) They love for curious dentists and staff members to come by and check everything out.
6) Management skills and the know-how to use your computer reports to become consultants to your own practice.
7) A facility that attracts the patients who want the best possible care in the cleanest and most efficiently run environment. Not every dentist has a new state of the art facility but every dentist should have a clean, uncluttered, and well-organized office.
Trusted advisors and mentors such as accountants, insurance advisors (business and personal), investment counselors, bankers, sales representatives, coaches and/or consultants.
9) A strong hygiene department as it “drives” the entire practice. In every successful practice I’ve followed for 20 years, hygiene is 1/3 of the total volume per month (40% if exams are counted). When hygiene goes down, so does the entire practice.
10)Outstanding communication skills not just from one person but the entire staff and dentist. You are only as strong as your weakest link in this area, so verbal skills must be superb at every stage of the patient’s visit.
11) A properly engineered schedule. Many practices take 30 names and throw them into the computer and pray they live through it. The key to low stress and high productivity is effective double scheduling of doctor time opposite assistant time. Show me a dentist who is working out of two rooms with only one assistant running from room to room, and I’ll show you a dentist who is losing $1000 (plus) per day. The dentist doesn’t have to be in two places at once. They have to hire, train and trust two very brilliant dental assistants. The dentists do not work harder, they work within the law, and they go home happy tired not stressed tired!
12)Presentation skills must be excellent. Someone had a seminar entitled “Nothing Happens Until the Patient Says Yes”. A big part of the yes comes from relationship building and creative financing options. A large percentage of cases fall apart in the financial discussions. This skill is by far as important as knowing how to do the dentistry.
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Beginning February 2003, my 6 US Certified Dental Business Conference Presenters will be giving the 2-Day DBCs across the country. Please refer to my updated web-site beginning September 15th for full details on cities and registration information. These programs are limited to 100 registrants for solid group interaction. Select the program nearest you (for the dentist and entire team), and know what it’s like to have everyone in the practice on the same page goals-wise. It gives me great pleasure to introduce my colleagues who are owners of their own consulting and speaking businesses in addition to being LLM&A DBC presenters. Joining Kathy Metaxas (Perth, W. Australia) is Lois Banta (MO), D’Jean Carter (SC), Gayle Christensen (MN), Lisa Grothouse (PA), Janelle Kent and Susan Kulakowski, (FL).
I will personally be presenting my last 4 DBCs in Panama City Beach, FL September 20-21; Vienna VA, November 1-2; Fairfield NJ, November 15-16; and San Antonio, TX February 7-8, 2003. With the annual Speaking/Consulting Network growing at a steady pace, I must share this wonderful teaching experience with those in my network who have the same philosophy of management and the same love of dentistry that I have. Teaching management principles is easy. Teaching others to go back to their practices and make a huge difference by their improved attitudes and new skills is the key to long term success. WE don’t call the DBC a seminar or workshop, it’s an experience! Long after the conference is over, many attendees keep in touch with each other and form lasting friendships for a continuation of shared information. Call Lee at 800-922-0866.
At last count our SunFun W. Caribbean Team Appreciation Cruise has over 300 registered for next March 26-30. Don’t miss the boat! Call our toll free SunFun hot line for more information. 877-673-4270. The top five states registered to date includes: Ohio, NC, GA, MI and RI, next are IA, VA, TN and ME. Make plans now to award your hard working team with an end of the year holiday gift they will talk about for years.
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ATTENTION: If your chair side dental assistants need an opportunity to strengthen their clinical assisting and communication skills, mark this date on your calendar. Friday, November 15th from 9-4. Sheila Dalton and Courtney Wooten, Co-owners of EDA (Exceptional Dental Assistants) a Richmond, VA based firm will sponsor a hands-on seminar in Richmond. All dental assistants are encouraged to take their skills from “good to great” in the duties of fail-proof impressions, temporaries, sealants, x-ray techniques, and organizational skills. The role of the assistant in the New Patient Interview, and complete patient education chair side will be emphasized. To register or for more information call 804-739-4375. Watch you mail for an upcoming flier with all the details of this exciting learning experience.
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PATIENT PRO, (DENTISTRY’S NEWEST LEADER IN ON-HOLD MESSAGES)
What do your patients hear while they’re on hold? Yearly, the average dental practice is missing the opportunity to tell over 2500 patients about their favorite procedures and their practice philosophy. If your patients are hearing elevator music or, worse yet, silence, you may want to consider a custom on hold message. This system will portray professionalism as well as give you the opportunity to talk about your most profitable procedures. Here’s a list of all the benefits an on hold message will provide:
Entertain callers while your business staff is helping other patients
Calm fearful patients
Portray cutting edge technology and professionalism
Increase profitability
Patient Pro, INC provides customized on hold messaging systems for general dentists as well as all specialists. They provide state-of-the-art digital messaging components that are compatible with every phone system. In addition, they have ten different professional voice talents, and over 60 pieces of background music to choose from. And because they write the script for you after a brief interview, it’s quick and painless! For more information on this exciting new product, which I have invested in for my own office, call toll free, (866) 865-4055.
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On this eve of 9-11, I’d like to close with the message I received yesterday from my friend and speaking mentor, Mr. Nido Qubein:
This complimentary newsletter is published by Nido Qubein — an international speaker and consultant addressing more than 100 business and professional groups around the world each year. He is the recipient of the highest awards given for professional speakers and the author of numerous books and audio and video learning programs. He is chairman of an international consulting firm, chairman of Great Harvest Bread Company (200 stores in 35 states), chairman of Business Life, Inc., and chairman of McNeill Lehman, a public relations company serving clients in the US and Europe.
Visit Nido online at www.nidoqubein.com.
QUBEIN’S EXECUTIVE BRIEFING
GOD BLESS AMERICA: A PRAYER AND A FACT
By Nido Qubein
While the World Trade Center was burning and collapsing, while the Pentagon was absorbing the crash of a commercial airliner filled with innocent souls, and while a wounded nation gathered the evidence of heroism aboard United Airlines Flight 93, I was preparing to give the keynote address to the North Carolina Telephone Association Executives Conference at the Pinehurst Hotel.
The ominous reports began arriving seconds before I stepped to the microphone. The executives, with only sketchy details of what was happening, decided that I should go on with my remarks.
As I looked out over my audience at this pivotal moment in our national experience, I felt a brotherly solidarity with the people in that room. We were Americans. And I knew that whatever the threat, whatever the origin of this instant of infamy, this nation — our country — would endure and excel.
I am an American by conviction, a North Carolinian by choice. When I came to the United States as a penniless youth, I knew — even before I knew the language — that this was my country. I had to fill out 38 forms, side A & B, to become an American, and I’ve told 5,000 audiences over the last 30 years how thankful we all should be to live in a land so abundant in material and spiritual riches.
As I look back over the year that has passed since that awful morning, I am heartened by the outpouring of patriotic sentiment from Americans of all races, creeds, and economic levels.
As I have crisscrossed America to address audiences in all corners of the land, I have spotted a heartwarming trend. I find myself much more often flanked by the national colors as I stand on the podium. I hear the National Anthem played much more frequently. And I have noticed the re-emergence of our “Second National Anthem,” the poignant call to patriotism sounded by Irvin G. Berlin in 1938 “while the storm clouds gather from across the sea”: God Bless America.
That song became the unofficial anthem of Sept. 11, 2001, and it expresses not only a hope but also a fact: God has blessed America in manifold ways. It’s a fact that we seem to acknowledge most fervently in moments of national danger or distress, but it’s something we should keep in our hearts in good times and bad.
We are a strong people, a tough and stable alloy forged from the mettle of many lands. You need only run down a list of the victims of 9-11-01 to sense the aptness of the motto stamped on our coins: E pluribus unum — “Out of Many, One.”
While the debris was raining on Lower Manhattan, the smoke was enveloping the whole of New York, the president was assessing the situation from Air Force One, and the entire government was preparing for the worst, I reminded my Pinehurst audience of the gloomy day in 1974 when the president of the United States resigned. The next day, we went to work and school under a new president, chosen by a constitutional procedure that Americans everywhere accepted and abided by. We would meet this new challenge with the same unflappable calm.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, we have demonstrated anew the essential integrity of this blessed land. We have survived the attack, learned from it, and committed ourselves to work together to protect this country without sacrificing our freedom and values.
Our hearts go out to the families of the victims. We salute them and their loved ones with our prayers, our support, and our desire to help rebuild that which was so unfairly destroyed.
Every day I thank God for the gift of freedom I enjoy as an American, for the blessing of purposeful work, and for the joy that stems from being a member of a vibrant and growing community.
By embracing the dream and applying our efforts and talents, we can have success and significance, happiness and joy, balance in business and in life. With open hearts and willing souls, we can create abundance from adversity and cross the difficult chasms of life with faith and fortitude.
I am eternally grateful to my country for opening these possibilities to me. I have made it my endeavor to repay this great land for the kindnesses it has rendered me and the opportunities it has offered me. So may we all.
© Copyright 2002. All rights reserved.
If you received this e-mail from another person, find it valuable, and would like to receive your own complimentary subscription, contact vicki@nidoqubein.com.
Nido R. Qubein
Creative Services, Inc.
P. O. Box 6008
High Point, NC 27262
Phone: 336-889-3010 Fax 336-885-3001
Visit www.nidoqubein.com
Linda Miles, CEO, CSP, CMC
Linda Miles, CEO
LLMiles and Associates
P.O. Box 6249
Virginia Beach, VA 23456
800.922.0866
Please keep in mind this newsletter is being offered complimentary in response to the many requests to stay in touch with our clients and followers. If you wish to unsubscribe to Dynamic Data please send an e-mail message to lindamiles@cox.net to let us know.
Miles & Associates’ corporate headquarters may be reached at 800.922.0866. Fax us at 757.721.2892. On the web at www.DentalManagementU.com, or via email at lindamiles@cox.net.
Miles & Associates – September 2002
Miles & Associates
Linda L Miles & Associates
P.O. Box 6249
Virginia Beach, VA 23456-0249
Phone: 757.721.3332
FAX: 757.721.2892
800.922.0866 Toll-free